She looks down at Layden, then her friend Sabra. Phoenix’s expression shifts from triumphant to desperate in a heartbeat.
“They can’t get through!” Her shout cracks with frustration. “The circle doesn’t have enough power—either that or I don’t!”
Oh no.I don’t know what it means, but the desperation on her face feels catastrophic.
Layden immediately starts running along one of the inner circles, his hands blazing with that blue light again. He’s laying down more runes, working faster than should be humanly possible. But Phoenix just keeps shaking her head, hair whipping around her face as she hovers there, helpless.
“They can’t cross the plane from theirs to this one.” Her voice is breaking now, desperation bleeding through. “We didn’t have enough time to?—”
She sounds like I felt when my mom told me I was being dramatic in the hospital. When Michael threw my stuff out on the curb. That special kind of helpless frustration when you’ve tried everything and it’s still not enough.
And if Phoenix—who’s probably centuries old and clearly powerful enough to float and summon spirits—isn’t enough...
What chance do any of us have?
“Iwill give you the power to cross planes.” The hiss comes from right beside me. So close I feel the words against my ear.
My head snaps toward Vlad.
He’s standing maybe three feet away, close enough that I should have noticed him or heard him move. But vampires don’t move like normal people—I’m learning that.
His voice is barely audible, quiet enough that I’m not sure anyone else can hear over the wind. But when Remus’s head whips toward the vampire, I realize I’m wrong.
Remus heard. And from the way his eyes widen, the way his whole body tenses?—
He knows what Vlad’s about to do.
“Wait—” Remus starts.
Too late.
Vlad moves.
I’ve seen fast before. I’ve seen the brothers move with inhuman speed, when they blur from point A to point B. But this? This is something else entirely. Vlad doesn’t blur—he’s justgone. One second beside me, the next he’s?—
I blink.
He’s across the courtyard. Standing beside Kharon and the cluster of women pressed against the wall.
Another blink.
No. Not standing beside Kharon.
Vlad ison top ofKharon.
“What—” I start, but the word dies as my brain catches up with my eyes.
Vlad has literally climbed the massive Horseman like a tree, arms and legs wrapped around him, and—oh god, ohfuck—his fangs are buried deep in Kharon’s neck.
“NO!” Someone screams—maybe Hannah, maybe Ksenia. The sound is primal and terrified.
Remus is already moving, sprinting across the courtyard. His wings snap out, catching air, propelling him faster. But not even he is fast enough.
Kharon roars—the first sound I’ve ever heard him make—and grabs Vlad by the back of his coat. The vampire’s ancient, but Kharon isDeath incarnate. He flings Vlad away like a ragdoll, sending him tumbling through the air.
Vlad lands hard on the cobblestones, rolling twice before coming to a stop near where Remus skids to a halt beside him.
But the damage is done.
